Lending relationships between banks and borrowing firms have been considered important only for small and young firms. We show that even large publicly traded firms have relationships with lenders, but that the dependence of firms on such relationships is falling over time, just as in the case...

Using data from India, we show that shared caste identities between two firms' directors increase the likelihood that they enter a merger and acquisition (M&A) deal. Target and acquirer shareholders receive smaller gains in such deals relative to others. Negotiation outcomes and long-run firm...

We examine the relationship between firm performance and diversity among corporate directors, proxied by diversity along religion and caste, a deep-rooted institution that divides India's Hindu society into hundreds of communities. To identify directors' caste, we build the first data-driven...